Journey Unexpected

by Dances With Unicorns

Chapter 15: Conservation Unexpected

Chapter 15: Conservation Unexpected

Meanwhile, Princess Twilight, wearing her coronation dress and royal regalia walks with slow, graceful steps into the Rose Garden of the Dream Valley Presidential Mansion. She is escorted by Spiffy van Hoosier, a stallion with a brushed aluminum colored coat, nickel silver colored mane and tail, and a tea set for his cutie mark. Spiffy wears a black butler uniform.

On a brick patio, protected from the direct sunlight by a canvas canopy stands Cameo Moderator, the President of the Dream Valley Republic. Cameo is an Earth pony mare with a coat of polished copper, with a mane and trail of metallic green jade, and a powdered wig for her cutie mark. Cameo wears a white ruffle shirt and a black bow tie. Being an Earth pony and thus attuned with nature, she often meets with guests in her nation’s Presidential Mansion’s Rose Garden.

Cameo walks over to Twilight saying, “My name is Cameo Moderator. I’m the elected President of the Dream Valley Republic. You have already met my butler, Spiffy van Hoosier.”

Twilight replies, “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I’m the Princess of Friendship of the Equestrian nation.” After a healthy hoofshake, Cameo invites Twilight to sit down on a comfortable sofa. Cameo sits on a sofa opposite Twilight, with a low table with a tea set and cookies on it.

Spiffy says to Twilight, “I would find it acceptable if you called me Spiffy. If you need anything, Princess Twilight all you need to do is ask.”

Looking at Spiffy, Twilight said, “Spiffy, just call me Twilight. Also, there is something about you that reminds me of my own devoted servant and dear friend, Spike the dragon.”

While bowing to Twilight, the stallion said, “As you wish, Twilight. I have pride in the fact that my Hoosier family has been attending to the needs of Dream Valley’s presidents and their visitors for more than eight hundred years.”

Twilight replied, “Wow that is a long time for a family to have one job. You must tell me some of the interesting stories about your family sometime.”

Cameo asked Twilight, “Besides you are there any more Equestrian Princesses?”

Twilight turns her attention from Spiffy to Cameo. “Besides me, there is Princess Celestia, who controls the Sun, Princess Luna who controls the Moon, and Princess Cadance who spreads love, while protecting the Crystal Empire.”

“Dream Valley ponies have wondered for generations who or what is controlling the movements of the sun and the moon. If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the difference between Princess Cadance being the princess of love and you being the princess of friendship?”

Twilight’s eyes grow bigger and she appears confused. “I’m not sure what the best way to answer your question is. Nopony has ever asked me the specific details of our job descriptions or if there is any overlap in our duties. Come to think of it, our job descriptions have never been written down. That is something I’m going to do after I get back to my homeland.”

Twilight looks at Cameo’s shoe-gloves, then asks, “Cameo, do you know what the shoe-gloves are based on?”

“There is an old pony legend that says that our ancestors were once legendary creatures known as human beings who lived on another world. After these humans walked through a magic gateway to our world, these humans became the three pony tribes and other species as well.” With a laugh, Cameo adds, “We both know that’s just an entertaining bedtime story for foals.”

Twilight responses, “Sometimes, even the most embellished of legends are based on a kernel of truth.”

Cameo gives Twilight a skeptical facial expression. And then she asks Twilight, “Ok, here’s another question. Why didn’t anypony from the Equestrian nation ever see what had happened to their ancestors’ homeland before your arrival?”

“I’ve been wondering about that same question. As far as I know, Everypony in Equestria assumed that Dream Valley was buried under a deep layer of ice and snow. No Equestrian pony had ever thought to come here and see what happened to Dream Valley with their own eyes. Dream Valley had become more myth than fact. It took three young fillies, their school teacher, and Spike, my dragon friend, to suggest a journey to retrieve knowledge lost to Equestrian ponies.”

“The same thing happened with the Dream Valley ponies. We assumed that all the ponies that had emigrated out of Dream Valley and didn’t return hadn’t survived the journey to a new land.”

“Cameo, the fact is that about half our world is unknown to Equestrian ponies. I would think that with all our Earth pony science, Pegasus flight, and Unicorn magic, we ponies would have made a complete map of our world by now. There are even uncharted areas of my home nation.”

“Ambassador Twilight, may I call you Ambassador Twilight?” After Twilight nods her head, Cameo continues by saying, “My mapmaking cartographer ponies will give you copies of the maps of my nation, as well as maps of the other known kingdoms on this continent. What do you say to that?”

“I say, on behalf of my nation, thank you. Let’s learn from the past, but also move forward. Let us work together in friendship and harmony to build a better future for all ponies, dragons, griffons, zebras, and all other intelligent species.”

“That sounds very nice, but where should we begin to build our friendship between the ponies of our nations?”

“I can start off by giving you these books on Equestrian history. I wish I had more to give to you, but I didn’t know that there were ponies living in Dream Valley.” Twilight’s horn lights up as three books levitate out of Twilight’s saddlebags and land on the low table between Twilight and Cameo.

The Dream Valley President than said, “I’ll give these books to the Dream Valley History Museum. Our pony historians will love reading each detail of how our long lost relatives are living. Is there anything you want to add, Ambassador Twilight?”

“I think that our nations should exchange professional ambassadors. Then, our professional bureaucrats, university professors, and business ponies can consider what trade routes to use for ponies and goods to travel between our two nations. Cameo, what goods do you think Dream Valley ponies can sell to Equestrian ponies?”

“Dream Valley ponies would love to trade our PDAs, our canal technology, and our vast, Dream Valley coal reserves for Equestrian trains, airships, and Friendship engines. Dream Valley ponies joke with each other that if you drag your hoof on the ground here, there’s a good chance your hoof will get covered in coal dust. Ambassador Twilight, how do we determine how many tons of Dream Valley coal do you think is a worthwhile trade for one Equestrian friendship engine?”

With a sigh, Twilight said, “I see we have many days of complicated and intricate negotiating ahead of us. Being an adult is so complicated. And thus, I wonder why when I was a young filly that I was in such a hurry to grow up.”